Wednesday, February 19, 2014

Fall 2013/Winter 2014 issue of the Alaska Justice Forum

The Fall 2013/Winter 2014 issue of the Alaska Justice Forum includes articles on offender reentry and the collateral consequences of criminal conviction, the relationship between unemployment and domestic violence, and prison visitation policies. The issue also includes faculty and staff news, and a memorial to retired Justice Center faculty member Dr. Nancy E. Schafer, who died in September 2013. The 16-page
issue includes the following articles:

This article describes recent efforts at the national level to ameliorate the public costs of unnecessary collateral consequences, summarizes the array of statutory and regulatory impediments faced by released offenders in Alaska, and highlights legislative efforts in Alaska to improve community safety and public health by facilitating prisoner reintegration and reducing rates of recidivism.

This article describes impacts in Alaska of the Second Chance Act of 2007, which was enacted to address problems posed by the growing number of adults and juveniles released from incarceration and returned to their communities.

Research has found the link between perpetrator unemployment and domestic violence to be so significant that experts conclude any effective domestic violence prevention strategy must address unemployment and male poverty.

The Alaska Prisoner Reentry Task Force, a sub-committee of the Criminal Justice Working Group (CJWG), focuses on promoting the goal that individuals released from incarceration do not return to custody. This article presents an update on progress on Alaska's Five-Year Prisoner Reentry Strategic Plan, 2011–2016, which was released by Task Force in February 2011.

Dr. Nancy E. Schafer, a member of the Justice Center faculty from 1983 to 2002, died in September 2013 after an illness. Research publications and papers by Dr. Schafer can be viewed at the Justice Center website.